Moral Concerns Hamper HPV Vaccine

by Ed Susman Contributing Writer, MedPage Today

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Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

BOSTON -- Moral concerns about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine were the greatest barrier to vaccination among college freshmen, according to researchers here.

When 18- and 19-year-old students at one university were surveyed about perceived barriers to receiving the quadrivalent HPV recombinant vaccine (Gardasil), 91.2% cited a composite of morality-related issues, said Jamie Phillipich, MS, and Margaret Webb, MS, from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich.

A little over half (51.2%) of those surveyed cited lack of education about the vaccine as the second greatest barrier, they reported in a poster presentation at the American Academy of Physician Assistants annual meeting.

The combined moral score included factors such as the perceived belief that the vaccination promoted sexual behavior and that vaccination somehow ran afoul of moral and/or religious beliefs, or opposed parental opinion.

"Vaccination continues to be a controversial topic for parents as rumors swirl through the mass media about the false complications associated with the vaccination," the researchers wrote. "As providers, it will be important to impart the most recent guidelines to patients and their families so they have the information they need to make informed decisions."

Online questionnaires were sent to 1,000 incoming freshmen at Grand Valley State University. The anonymous survey was completed by 146 students, 69.2% of whom were women and 87.7% were non-Hispanic whites.

Of those who responded, 109 answered questions regarding vaccination status, with 51.4% reporting that they received at least one dose of the HPV vaccination while 40.4% said they received all three doses.

Webb noted that 68% of the participants reported that they received information about the vaccine from the media, but more than half of those expressed skepticism about the information's accuracy. They reported having the most confidence in information provided through television programming, followed by campus newspapers, Internet, magazines, and YouTube.

The authors noted that the education level of the parent did not appear to impact whether the student was likely to receive the vaccination.

When looking at factors that influenced the decision to get the vaccine, the researchers said students reporting getting most of their information from health education classes from grades six to 12. The second most commonly cited source of information was friends, and the third was TV programming.

"Because health education classes in an adolescent's education have played such a large role in study participants of this generation gaining health-related information, it is important as providers to encourage education through this avenue," the researchers wrote.

PAs can play a major role in HPV vaccine education, particularly when addressing areas of misinformation, pointed out Jim Cawley, PA-C, MPH, a senior research fellow with the AAPA.

There has been a lot of misinformation [about vaccines] and a lot of people running around saying that vaccines have something to do with autism, even though that connection has been totally disproved," Cawley, a professor of public health and physician assistant studies at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C, told MedPage Today. "But there are still pockets in this country where parents are still reluctant to vaccinate their children."

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